Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
Author’sForeword
ThreestudiespresentedinthisvolumehavebeenwritteninSzczecinbe-
tween2003and2009,buttheyallgobacktotheyears1997-2002whenIwas
lecturingattheInstituteofEthnologyandCulturalAnthropology,AdamMick-
iewiczUniversity,anddirectingCelticResearchesSocietyatDomBretanii/Ti
Breizh/MaisondelaBretagne,bothinPoznań.Originallyhopedtobepublished
separately,eachoneprovedtoolongforapaperandtooshortforabook.Nowthat
thankstomyUniversitytheyhaveachanceofappearinginonevolumeitseems
tomethattheyneedanintroductionthatwilltiethemup.Theymay,atfirstsight,
appearwhollyunrelated-apoliticalhistoryofTibet,theCelticpoetryoftheXX
centuryandaBuddhist-ConfucianclassicofthelateMingChina.However,all
thethreeconstituteonelargerwhole,asIhopetoconvincethereader,asthey
formthemainstepsinthedevelopmentofmyinterestsandresearches.These,
rightfromthebeginning,centeredonthreemainpoints:linguisticminorities
andvanishinglanguages,dangersfacingthemandthepossiblewaysofaverting
thosedangers,andfinallytheEasternphilosophyandtheadvantagesitoffersthe
contemporarymanlostathighseasofinformationdelugeintheepochcalledby
astrangelyillogicalnameofpostmodernity.
Thesetopicsmay,ofcourse,beapproachedundertheaegisofseveraldis-
ciplines.Theriseofanumberofnew,increasinglyspecializedhumanitiesso
clearlyseeninthelastfewdecadesseemstohaveovershadowedthetraditions
Ifeelbothaproductandanheirof-thetraditionsofasciencenamedbutseldom
today,goingbythebeautifulnameofphilology,thatis“loveoflearningand
literature”asitsetymologyexplains.1Asthenewscienceskeepappearing,it
maybeworthwhiletolookbacktoWilhelmvonHumboldt’swisewordsabout
1EtymologyaftertheRandomHouseDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage.CollegeEdition,
NewYork1968,p.997.
